Meantime, Hadfield who is on a five-month space mission, has been sending back photos of the Earth on a daily basis and has received considerable attention for it.

As his continues to send tweets while orbiting the planet every 92 minutes, Hadfield has reached the mark of 300,000 Twitter followers, surpassing even Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

In mid-March, around the halfway point of his mission, the Sarnia, Ont., native will become the first Canadian to command the orbiting space laboratory.

Back on the ground, an interim president has been named to replace Steve MacLean, who quit Feb. 1. Industry-watchers say his earlier-than-expected departure might be tied to a lack of direction on the government's space policy.

Gilles Leclerc took over as interim president Monday. Leclerc is the agency's director-general of space exploration.